"Grocery shopping is not optional; it’s necessary. But if you go every day and to multiple stores, you are increasing the chance you will be exposed. From my informal survey, this practice is extremely common. Yet, experts advise to consolidate shopping. In fact, in my experience, there is always at least one person (shoppers AND workers) in every store I have visited who is either not masked or masked incorrectly.

Many people report that they are going stir-crazy without seeing friends and family members or being among others. So the trade-off is clear: maintaining sanity is prioritized.

Everyone wants things to return to normal, so they are doing normal things, albeit with precautions. In reality, there is still so much that is unknown about coronavirus transmission, so it is too soon to attempt 'normalcy.'"

Sara L. Merwin is an epidemiologist and co-author of The Informed Patient: A Complete Guide to a Hospital Stay.

She shares her story and discusses her KevinMD article, "Incremental risk amid COVID-19 re-openings: What do we value most?" (https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2020/08/incremental-risk-amid-covid-19-re-openings-what-do-we-value-most.html)